The Glass Set for Returning is a mirror working for calling a loved one home across distance and silence. As a homecoming mirror spell, it uses a single candle doubled in dark glass to show a distant, wandering heart the warmth of your hearth, until longing turns their feet back toward your door. In the words of the old grimoire: at midnight the mirror forgets which side of it you stand on, and a patient worker can lay a hearth inside the glass and let a distant heart come and warm its hands.
Correspondences for This Spell
- Colours: blue and warm brown, the tones of a safe return to the hearth
- Herbs: rosemary for remembrance, comfrey for safe travel, and sage to clear the road home
- Crystal: amber or hematite, for grounding the returning one
- Day: Monday
- Planet: the Moon
- Element: Earth
- Moon phase: the waxing moon, to draw the wanderer home
For the full table of magical associations, see the correspondences guide.
What You Will Need
- A mirror large enough to hold a face, cleaned and free of dust
- A single candle in blue or warm brown, with matches or a taper to light it
- A small bell, clear-voiced, to open and close the glass
- A shallow bowl of fresh water to catch the candlelight
- A dark cloth to veil the mirror between workings
- Optional: a sprig of rosemary or a piece of amber set at the mirror’s foot
The Best Time to Cast
Cast at true midnight, the hour of thresholds between here and elsewhere, when a mirror worked well becomes a window and a window becomes an invitation. Choose a Monday under a waxing moon: Monday belongs to the Moon, ruler of tides, memory, and the pull that brings distant things back, while the swelling moon lends its gathering power to draw the wanderer nearer with each night.
The Working
- At true midnight, set a mirror upright so it faces the warmest heart of your home, the hearth or the fire, never the door to outside.
- Place a lit candle between yourself and the glass so its flame doubles in the silver.
- Set a shallow bowl of water before the mirror and let the candlelight ripple across it.
- Ring a bell three times to open the glass, and hold the wanderer’s face steady in your mind.
- Breathe upon the mirror and, in the fog, trace the first letter of their name, then wipe it clear so only the intent remains.
- Speak the verse low, watching the doubled flame, and picture the far one stepping into the reflected warmth.
- Close by ringing the bell once, covering the mirror with cloth, and snuffing the candle; repeat for three midnights running.
The Incantation
Silver deep and midnight wide,
show the warmth that waits inside.
Here the hearth, and here the flame,
here the door that keeps your name.
Look, and let the longing start;
look, and turn your travelling heart.
Come from far and come from cold,
come to the fire, as of old.
Variations & Substitutions
- No hearth or open fire? Face the mirror toward the busiest, best-loved room of your home, the place where people gather, and let that stand as your hearth.
- No bell? A struck glass, a small chime, or three slow claps will open and close the glass just as well; what matters is the clear sound marking a beginning and an end.
- To strengthen the call, anchor the intent by laying rosemary or a piece of amber at the mirror’s foot, or float a rosemary sprig in the water bowl for remembrance and safe travel.
A Word on Intent
The Wiccan Rede counsels, an it harm none, do what ye will. A homecoming working must honour that above all. Cast this only to open a door, never to drag someone through it. Picture the way home lit and warm, not the person bound or compelled; let the wanderer choose freely whether to walk it. If their heart is elsewhere, let the spell soften into a blessing for their safe travels. Consent is the hearth this magic is built upon.
Related Homecoming Spells
The mirror is a strong road and a quiet one; keep it covered between workings so nothing else wanders through. For more workings like this one, return to the Grimoire or record your own results in your Book of Shadows.